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‘India will never accept dictatorship'—Amit Shah on 50th anniversary of ‘dark chapter' of Emergency
'Remember the morning when Indira Gandhi announced the Emergency on All India Radio. Was Parliament consulted before this? Were the opposition leaders and citizens taken into confidence?' he said at an event organised by Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation on the eve of 50 years of the imposition of the 1975 Emergency.
Shah further took a jibe at the Congress, saying that he wants to know the political affiliation of those preaching the sanctity of the Constitution.
New Delhi: India will never accept dictatorship, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said Tuesday, asserting that the people overcame a 'dark chapter like the Emergency because our nation never bows down to dictatorship'.
'Those who talk about protecting democracy today—were you the Rakshaks (protectors) of the Constitution back then, or its Bhakshaks (destroyers)? They claimed the Emergency was declared to protect the nation. But the truth is—it was declared to protect their own power,' Shah asserted.
Recalling the number of people who were imprisoned during the Emergency, Shah even took a jibe at the Congress and its allies, saying, 'Today there are those with the Congress who were in jail during the Emergency. Be it Samajwadi or DMK. Today they are sitting with the Congress and raising questions about democracy and the Constitution.'
According to Shah, the Congress' decline after the Emergency is a 'lesson' for political parties, 'whatever the ideology, the aim is to make the country great. The mindset that there should be only one ideology, that only I am correct, will not work.'
'Won't forget till I die'
Shah began his speech with the intent to answer the question as to why the Emergency is being remembered and referred to so many years later.
'Some may wonder why we are recalling something that happened decades ago. But I believe that in any civil society, time may fade memories, yet forgetting an event like the Emergency, which shook the very foundations of our democracy, is dangerous for the nation,' he explained.
It was important that the memories of the Emergency do not fade away, so that the youth are able to recall what happened during the time, he said. Shah even urged the youth to read up the Shah Commission report, which was appointed by the Janata Party government in 1977 to inquire into the illegalities committed during the Emergency.
Shah said that he was 11 years old when the Emergency was imposed, claiming that 184 people from his village were sent to jail. 'Till today, and till I die, I will not be able to forget that moment.'
Also Read: These 80 Indians in America mounted the first protest against Indira Gandhi's Emergency
'Everything was changed'
Shah listed down the changes made by then prime minister Indira Gandhi during the Emergency, pointing out that it came to be known as a 'mini Constitution'.
'From the Preamble to the Basic Structure everything was changed. The judiciary became submissive, and democratic rights were suspended. The nation can never forget. That is why PM Modi decided to observe June 25 as Samvidhan Hatya Diwas (or, Constitution Murder Day) so that the country remembers how a nation suffers when its leaders turn into dictators,' he asserted.
He urged the gathering to imagine what the Emergency felt like to ordinary people. 'Just imagine that moment during the Emergency—one day, you are a free citizen of India, and the next morning, you wake up as a subject under a dictator,' he said.
'Until yesterday, you were a journalist—the fourth pillar of democracy, showing the mirror of truth. The next day, you are labelled an anti-social element and declared anti-national. You didn't raise any slogans, didn't take part in any protest—your only 'fault' was that your thoughts were free,' Shah added.
Towards the end of this address, he asserted that the spirit of the Constitution cannot be upheld by the courts or Parliament alone, it is also the responsibility and right of every citizen. 'I believe Samvidhan Hatya Diwas should be observed collectively and consciously, so that the youth never forget how the Constitution was once silenced,' he added.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: If Emergency was brought in the interest of the nation, I am with Indira ji—Bal Thackeray in 2007
